AUGUSTA ME Sept 22 2012 -- A state worker was convictedTuesday of stealing workers' compensation benefits during a six-month periodlast year.
Clinton J. Ashby III, 47, of Pembroke, had been a bridgemaintenance engineer for the Department of Transportation when he becamedisabled and started collecting benefits.
Investigators looking into possible fraud took surveillancevideos, which were played for jurors during the two-day trial in KennebecCounty Superior Court, showing Ashby swinging a sledge hammer, using a crow barand running heavy equipment during the time he was receiving benefits becausehe was reportedly too disabled to work.
The judge indicated Ashby's sentencing would be next week,according to the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin.
The maximum penalty for the class C felony is five years inprison and a $5,000 fine.
Defense attorney Walter McKee, who represented Ashby, said,"We were supremely disappointed with the verdict."
Ashby was indicted on a charge of theft by deception inFebruary and accused of stealing more than $15,000 in workers' compensationbenefits between May and November 2011. The jury convicted him of stealingbetween $1,000 and $10,000 in benefits.
"We are pleased that the jury held Clinton Ashbyaccountable for his crime," Robbin said.
"He engaged in the theft of workers' compensationbenefits by being dishonest with his doctors and his employer about his abilityto work as a DOT supervisor when the evidence showed that he was in factengaging in vigorous physical labor on his own home construction project.
"We will work with employers and insurers to prosecuteworkers' compensation fraud, so that compensation is reserved for the personsthat it was intended to benefit -- injured employees who cannot work due tojob-related injuries."
At the trial, Tammy Desjardin, a workers' compensation casemanager for the state, testified that Ashby received about $630 a week inbenefits.
Ashby did not testify at the trial.
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